Hi Jerry,
I accidently sent this response in HTML last night which was bounced.
So here it is again.
On Sep 11, 2007, at 2:18 PM, Leichter, Jerry wrote:
| The world's most secure USB Flash Drive: <https://www.ironkey.com/
demo>.
What makes you call it snake oil? At least the URL you point to says
very reasonable things: It uses AES, not some home-brew
encryption; the
keys are stored internally; the case is physically protected, and has
some kind of tampering sensor that wipes the stored keys when
attacked.
I don't about you, but when I hear terms like (please pardon my
cynicism):
"with today's most advanced security technology"
"advanced Internet protection for securing your passwords and browsing"
"with military grade AES encryption" - Hum, I'll have to ask NIST
about that.
"it initiates a self-destruct sequence" - Begin auto-destruct
sequence, authorization Picard-four-seven-alpha-tango...
"a harden version of Mozilla's Firefox browser" - Where can I
download that version?
"to circumvent keylogging spyware" - More on this later...
"you can enable high speed, stealth browsing technology"
"for the ultimate data protection"
"to prevent criminals from getting to the internal hardware
components" - But not PhD graduate students...
"this makes the IronKey not only tamper-proof but waterproof far
beyond military standards" - Well I'm glad a Navy Seal can't break it.
"this gives you online and off-line protection for today and tomorrow"
"While the underlying security technologies are complex" - Joe
Customer is just too dumb to understand it.
"The first time you plug it in, you initialize it with a password" -
Oh, wait until I disable my keylogging spyware.
"You enter that password to unlock your secure files" - Did I
disable my keyloggin spyware?
"The result of years of research and development by leading security
and industry experts" - But not by marketing department...
"With unparalleled security in the palm of your hand" - Imagine all
that security in the palm of my hand!
Yes, the term "snake oil" comes to mind. And it's only $79 with "1
Year of Internet Protection"!
In fact, they make some of the same points:
Your IronKey is literally packed with the latest and most
secure encryption technologies, all enabled by the powerful
onboard Cryptochip. Rather than employing "homegrown"
cryptographic algorithms that have not undergone rigorous
cryptoanalysis, IronKey follows industry best practices and
uses only well-established and thoroughly tested
cryptographic algorithms.
All of your data on the IronKey drive is encrypted in
hardware using AES CBC-mode encryption.
1. Encryption Keys
2. Always-On Encryption
3. Two-Factor Authentication
Encryption Keys
The encryption keys used to protect your data are generated
in hardware by a FIPS 140-2 compliant True Random Number
As opposed to a FIPS 140-2 compliant False Random Number Generator.
Generator on the IronKey Cryptochip. This ensures maximum
protection via the encryption ciphers. The keys are
generated in the Cryptochip when you initialize your
IronKey, and they never leave the secure hardware to be
placed in flash memory or on your computer.
Protected by a password that is entered on whatever PC you plug the
IronKey into and that is somehow auto-magically protected against all
keylogging spyware that may exist on that PC.
Always-On Encryption
Because your IronKey implements data encryption in the
hardware Cryptochip, all data written to your drive is
always encrypted. There is no way to accidentally turn it
off or for malware or criminals to disable it. Also, it runs
many times faster than software encryption, especially when
storing large files or using the on-board portable Firefox
browser.
"Decrypting your files is then as easy as dragging and dropping them
onto the desktop" and by any malware that detects that the IronKey is
present and has been unlocked and copies the files to a hidden folder.
Two-Factor Authentication
Beyond simply protecting the privacy of your data on the
IronKey flash drive, the IronKey Cryptochip incorporates
advanced Public Key Cryptography ciphers that allow you to
lock down your online IronKey account. That way you must
have your IronKey device, in addition to your password, to
access your online account. This highly complex process runs
behind the scenes, giving you state-of-the-art protection
from phishers, hackers and other online threats.
The management team lists some people who should know what they are
doing. They have a FAQ which gives a fair amount of detail about
what they do.
Well they are letting the marketing department sell snake oil.
I have nothing at all to do with this company - this is the first I've
heard of them - but it's hardly advancing the state of security if
even those who seem to be trying to do the right thing get tarred as
delivering snake-oil.
I do not have anything to do with them nor with any of their
competitors. I'm sure many of the other organizations previously
mentioned as selling snake oil had many hard working engineers that
were trying to do the right thing also.
If you know something beyond the publicly-available information about
the company, let's hear it. Otherwise, you owe them an apology -
whether they actually do live up to their own web site or not.
I ran across the company because they had an ad on a web page I had
visited. Their ad raise my curiosity and I looked at their web site.
I stand by my opinion that they are selling security snake oil. They
imply that you can use an IronKey with any PC and be completely safe.
That is false. You are free to disagree.
Respectfully,
Aram Perez
P.S. I did give them feedback about keylogging spyware and passwords.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Cryptography Mailing List
Unsubscribe by sending "unsubscribe cryptography" to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
